Netscape Navigator 9 Released for Mac – First Impressions

Ok, I was definietly surprised when I saw the post on Forever Geek that said a new version of Netscape Navigator was out. My very first internet browsing experience was with Netscape Navigator, and it’s almost sad to see how far the browser has fallen since Microsoft decided to try and kill it by installing IE on all Windows machines.

This new incarnation of Navigator is based on Firefox, and has a few interesting features. The only two of real note are the intergration with Netscape’s digg-clone site, allowing you to click one button to “share” the page on the site. Pages that have already been submitted have voting buttons in place of the share button.

The other feature that I think is worth talking about is the Mini Browser. At first I didn’t see a whole lot of point to this, but it really does make sense, and is a really cool tool for certain uses. For example, I can surf Digg.com in the Mini-Browser, then open the pages I want to look at in new tabs without ever losing my place on the site. The only problem is that it tends to open everything in a new window, which I don’t always want.

All in all the new Netscape browser appears to be a vast improvement over the previous release, but in a world filled with Safari, Firefox, Shiira, and Camino, I kinda have to ask…why do I need this?

Still, it might be your thing. If you want to check it out, you can do so here.